Week of Aug 30 – Sept 5

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Aug 30th through September 5th --  This week, back in 1958 -- The movement of cadets from Lowry Air Force Base in Denver to the Academy’s permanent site continues.  This group consisted primarily of cadets who had recently completed summer courses at Lowry.  …Also this week, back in 1983 -- General Richard Cavazos delivers the first Commandant’s Leadership Series speech of the academic year.  General Cavazos, Commander of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Georgia, spoke on the topic “Leadership in War and Peace.”  …And, this...

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Week of 23-29 August

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Aug 23rd through the 29th --  This week, back in 1962 -- The Academy begins hosting the Fourth Annual National Model Rocket Championships.  More than 100 contestants from all parts of the country participated.  …Also this week, back in 1983 -- The final reunion of the Lafayette Flying Corps of World War I begins at the Academy. Three of the eight surviving members attended the three-day event. In addition, five American aces from World War I attended. Participants ranged in age from 86 to 94 years old....

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Week of 16-22 August

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Aug 16th through the 22nd --  This week, back in 1948 -- General Muir Fairchild, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force and later the namesake of the Academy’s academic building, officially designates Air University as responsible for planning for an Air Force Academy.  …Also this week, back in 1959 -- Major General William Stone becomes the Academy’s third Superintendent, taking the reins from Major General James Briggs, who was promoted to Lieutenant General and assumed command of the Air Training Command at Randolph Air Force...

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Week of 9-15 August

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Aug 9th through the 15th --  This week, back in 1965 -- Flying North American F-100D Super Sabres, the Thunderbirds fly their 1,000th show at Waukegan, Illinois.  Captain Henry Canterbury, Class of ’59, had joined the team earlier in the year.  He was the first of many Academy graduates to be members of the exclusive squadron.  …Also this week, back in 1986 -- A groundbreaking ceremony is held for the 40,000 square foot addition to Mitchell Hall.  The addition, located under the Terrazzo between Mitchell and Sijan Halls, would house formal and informal dining rooms and a 32,000 square-foot consolidated cadet issue facility.  The $7.5 million project was completed in July 1988.  …And, this week back...

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Week of 2-8 August

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Aug 2nd through the 8th --  This week, back in 1969 -- Major James Morton Jr., Class of ’60, is killed when his F-4E ‘Phantom II’ aircraft is struck by hostile fire and crashes in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.  His name appears on the Graduate War Memorial on the Academy Terrazzo.  …Also this week, back in 1986 -- The Academy hosts the first Air Force Teen Leadership Forum.  The five-day event was “designed to develop and recognize leadership and volunteer service among the youth of Air Force families.”  …And, this week back in 2001 -- For the first time, notebook computers are issued at the Academy, to members of the Class of ‘05.   …Finally, this week back in 2021 – The groundbreaking ceremony...

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Week of 26 Jul – 1 Aug

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Jul 26th through the Aug 1st --  This week, back in 1962 -- Six Academy cadets begin a 15-day stay in the crew compartment of a simulated space vehicle.  While performing tasks similar to those in actual space travel, they proved that astronauts could perform well as a team.  …Also this week, back in 1994 -- The two-day 1994 Communications, Command, Control, Computer Sciences and Intelligence Space Symposium in Arnold Hall begins.  It was jointly hosted by the Academy, U.S. Space Command, and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.  …And, this week back in 2004 -- The Academy and the Association of Graduates begin co-hosting a three-day Graduate Leadership Conference.  Nearly 200 graduates, military and civilian, returned to...

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Week of 19-25 July

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Jul 19th through the 25th --  This week, back in 1939 -- Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Eisenhower, while serving as a military aide to the Philippine Commonwealth Government, writes in his diary “So now I’m a licensed pilot.  While I’ll never be good and after going to the States perhaps I’ll never get a chance to handle a stick -- still I’ve realized one ambition.”  Later, as President, he would sign the legislation that established the Air Force Academy, of which he was a strong supporter.     …Also this week, back in 1971 -- Chemistry Professors Lieutenant Colonel Lowell King and Major David Seegmiller are awarded a 1970 Air Force Research...

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Week of 12-18 July

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Jul 12th through the 18th --  This week, back in 1960 -- Colonel George Simler concludes his three-year term as the Academy’s second Director of Athletics.  Colonel Simler later conceived the idea of an annual competition between the Air Force, Army and Navy football teams, with the winner earning the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.  …Also this week, back in 1990 -- The Academy, in cooperation with the National Science Foundation, begins hosting an event focused on improving undergraduate physics instruction.  It was titled “Transforming Physics Content Using New Technologies: A Leadership Workshop.”  …And, this week back in 2001 -- Beginning the third of his five space missions, Steven Lindsey, Class of ’82, serves as commander of mission...

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Week of 5-11 July

This is your official Air Force Academy History Update for the Week of Jul 5th through the 11th --  This week, back in 1961 -- Lieutenant General Mike Lee, Commander, Air Defense Command, presents the Academy with a Bomarc missile during a ceremony at the Visitor Center near the South Gate where it was put on display.  …Also this week, back in 1989 -- President George H. W. Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, to Retired Air Force General James Doolittle during a White House ceremony. General Doolittle, the namesake of the Academy Association of Graduates’ headquarters building and exemplar for the Class of ’00, was the only person to have received both the military Medal...

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Studying Abroad: Embracing New Cultures and Militaries

Cadets Reese Wendfeldt and Ryne Rae examine the similarities and differences studying abroad at the Japanese Defense Academy with guest Camaren Ly.

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